Tel Aviv [Israel], March 17 (ANI): At least 4 Palestinians were killed and 23 others were wounded in Jenin on Thursday in the occupied West Bank region, CNN reported citing the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry.

The Health Ministry stated that five of those injured are in critical condition.

However, the Israeli security forces said that those neutralized were suspected of terrorist activity.

In a statement, the Israeli security forces said they "neutralized two operatives of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization who are suspected of significant terrorist activity." A third person "was neutralized after he tried to attack the fighters with an iron crowbar," the statement added, CNN reported.

During the operation, armed persons fired at the forces, and casualties were seen as a result.

Hamas announced in a statement that two of the Palestinians killed in Jenin were its members, according to CNN.

"The cowardly assassination of two leaders of the resistance will not go unpunished. The occupation has tried us before, knows for sure that our response is coming and that the march of the resistance continues until liberation," the Hamas statement read.

Hamas, a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization, which took control of the Gaza Strip by removing the Fattah officials. It resulted in the change in powers and the de facto division of the Palestinian territories into two entities, the West Bank governed by the Palestinian National Authority, and Gaza governed by Hamas.

Hamas is regarded as a terrorist organization by the majority of Western countries. The latest incident in what has become a vicious cycle of bloodshed between Israelis and Palestinians.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that 88 Palestinians, including terrorists and civilians, have died since the start of this year, CNN reported. (ANI)